Roar! Friday morning I went over to Green-Wood Cemetery to go on a walk with a fellow blogger and explore all the different trees and plant life that thrive in a place where humans eternally rest! Now that's what I call poetic! Roar!
Here I am outside the main gates of Green-Wood Cemetery where I met Katie who writes Green-Wood Cemetery Trees. Those sure are some fancy looking gates! Even though the cemetery was established in 1838 those sweet, Gothic gates weren't built until 1861. They were designed by Richard Upjohn who also designed the current Trinity Church!
As soon as entered the cemetery Katie started showing me all sorts of cool things I would never have noticed on my own! Here she's showing me a flowering katsura tree. You can even see the stamen and anthers! Roar!
Here I am checking out a type of shrubbery commonly called Andromeda. Woah! Get a look at those crazy looking flowers! They're totally out of this world! Possibly even galactic! Roar!
Next we passed by this crab apple tree whose base was completely hollowed out! It reminds me of a story I read one about a human boy that went to live in the woods and made a home inside of a tree! What a crazy story! Still, this tree is pretty comfortable... Roar!
Next Katie and I passed this beautiful budding beech tree. Try saying that five times fast! Roar!
There are a ton of famous people buried in Green-Wood Cemetery. Here I am hanging out on the grave of Bill the Butcher! He was a member of the Bowery Boys who was made famous in the movie Gangs of New York. That movie was about the rivalry between gangs of "native" New Yorkers and arriving immigrants. It's was a lot like what's happening in Collect Pond Park right now!
"Boss" William Tweed is also buried here. He is probably New York City's most infamous politician! Tweed stole up to 200 million dollars from tax payers and died in jail. Since this was before the consolidation of the city in 1898 I'm guessing no one wanted Tweed to be buried in Manhattan! So instead he was interred here in Brooklyn! Now that's justice! Roar!
One of the trees Katie wanted to find was this hardy orange! The hardy orange is a seriously thorny shrub whose fruit smell strongly of citrus. Unfortunately it's the wrong time of year for fruit otherwise I would be able to give them a try. I guess I'll have to come back in the future and plunder the Green-Wood C. Roar!
Here are some crocuses that were coming up in a planter in front of a headstone. The crocus is a sure sign of Spring! They are always the first flowers that I see come up once the seasons start changing!
There are a lot of beautifully crafted tombstones at Green-Wood Cemetery. This chair marks the grave of a child. Look at the detail of their coat draped over the arm of the chair. Not to mention the tassel from the coat. I can only imagine how beautiful it must have looked a hundred years ago when it was new.
Here I am in front of a Dawn Redwood or, as Katie called it, Metasequoia. The Dawn Redwood is actually a living fossil! I used to hang out in the shade of these trees back during the late Cretaceous! It was so awesome to see one of these guys again! Roar!
Next we headed down to one of the many pretty ponds located in the cemetery. Just check out this lovely spot under one of the willow trees! Katie told me that willow trees can actually be an invasive species in some places! I never knew that! I guess I've just always been in love with the iconic beauty of the weeping willow and never thought about how they might fit into the local ecosystem.
We passed this budding cherry tree on the other side of the pond. Since it didn't have its famous blossoms I didn't even realize it was a cherry tree until Katie pointed it out to me!
Not to far from the Cherry tree was this headstone. I hear this guy just loved cherries when he was alive! Roar!
Here I am under a sweet maple tree! Get a look at those bright red blossoms! I wonder if I can come back here and get some syrup? Roar!
This is a baby maple tree that had sprouted from a seed. Katie says the maple is pretty resilient. There were maple sprouts all over the cemetery. None of them will grow into full trees though, these guys won't make it past the first mowing of the grounds! Roar!
I love the way plants have grown all over the old Mausoleums! Above you can see one that has been over taken by ivy! I guess ivy is pretty common in cemeteries but I don't expect to see any lizards around here! Roar!
Next Katie and I headed over to the pretty pond! It was really beautiful! It reminds me of how before public parks, cemeteries were used by the public as green spaces. I could easily spend an afternoon lounging in the shade around this pond! Roar!
On the hill above the pond was this gorgeous Blue Atlas Cedar! With a big strong tree like this around I won't need to beware of the darkness! Though I definitely don't want to be standing underneath it if it decides to shrug and drop all its cones! Roar!
Next Katie and I passed by this neat ring of graves! There are so many interesting sites to see in the cemetery but I'm glad I'm here during the day. I don't want to run into any ghosts after all! I'm still afraid that Charles BOOs might get me! Roar!
Here are some sweet looking Sweetgum balls! Wait a second! These don't look chewy at all! And... Blargh! They're not sweet either! I should have asked Katie about them first before I decided to try them! Roar!
Next we came across another living fossil! There was this ring of Gingko trees that had fused together. I guess there must have been one large tree in the center and it fell down. Then the new trees sprang up from the roots and formed a ring! Talk about neat! Now if only I could find someway to toast the nuts without having to handle the fruit. Roar!
Towards the end of our walk we passed by the monument to Charlotte Canda. Katie said Charlotte is a real Green-Wood celebrity! She was only 17 when she was thrown from a carriage and tragically killed. Her family spared no expense erecting this beautiful monument to her. People would come from far and wide just to see it. To the right of the monument is the grave of Charlotte's fiance who sadly committed suicide after loosing Charlotte. roar...
Katie and I had come to the end of our walk. It was really awesome of her to let me explore the cemetery with her. She is going to be leading a walk through the cemetery in May. Definitely come check it out if you can! On the way out of Green-Wood cemetery I noticed a group of parrots that have made a home in the spire of the main gate. There are a lot of urban legends about how they got there. Regardless of how it happened it was neat to see that there were more than just plants thriving in Green-Wood Cemetery! Roar!
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